At present, fire fighters are equipped with SCBA gear for breathing in the smoke filled, toxic gas environment of a conflagration, or any other atmospheres that are contaminated. In general, such SCBA gear comprises a compressed air tank connected to a regulator which reduces the high pressure respiratory air from said air tank to a breathable level. The reduced pressure air is provided to the fire fighter via a mask. The air pressure in the modern compressed air tank can vary from 2216 psi to 4500 psi depending upon the particular supplier of the equipment. At present, there are a number of suppliers of SCBA gear including Scott, MSA, Draeger, ISI, Interspiro and Survi-Air.
In general, SCBA gear provides a fire fighter with approximately 20 minutes of breathable air at which time the fire fighter must withdraw from the fire environment to replenish the air supply, typically by switching out the air tank or by using a quick fill connection, if available, on both the SCBA device and an air source. Such connections are generally female connections on the air source which connect to male adapters on the firefighter. The male adapters are in gaseous communication with a firefighter's SCBA air tank and are mounted on either a firefighter's shoulder strap or belt depending on the particular manufacturer of same. The empty tank is refilled by fire department utility personnel for reuse as needed.
However, if a fire fighter becomes trapped and cannot withdraw from the fire environment, breathable air must be supplied to that fire fighter or serious injury or death may result. In fact, a 1998 report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicates that suffocation caused 6.34% of total fire fighter on duty fatalities in 1996. It should be noted that the NIOSH report states that over 60% of such fatalities were the result of heart attacks and accidents occurring while traveling to the fire. Thus, suffocation accounts for over 20% of fire fighter fatalities occurring as a direct result of the fire.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus which allows replenishment of a fire fighter's air supply when said fire fighter is trapped and cannot withdraw safely from the environment of a fire.
One method of supplying emergency air to trapped fire fighters is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,584 entitled “Emergency Air Supply Assembly for Trapped Fire Fighters” which issued on Dec. 4, 1990 to Goodnoe describes the use of a fire hose to provide air to a trapped individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,305 entitled “Emergency Air Supply Pack” which issued on Jul. 25, 1995 to Rankin, Sr. describes a body conforming air tank used to supply emergency air to a trapped individual.
Probably the most common method in current usage is the use of buddy breathing wherein a second low pressure air line provided after the regulator for use by a buddy in an emergency. One variation on buddy breathing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,490 entitled “Multiple Outlet Connecting Means for Self-Contained Positive Pressure or Demand Regulated Breathing Apparatus” which issued on Jul. 12, 1983 to Mattingly et al. In buddy breathing, the second low pressure line allows fire fighters to share air from one tank.
This method has two drawbacks. First, the fire fighter sharing air is essentially removed from the fire team as he or she must remain in close proximity to the trapped fire fighter. Second, the extra draw on the air tank means that tank will be exhausted in half the usual time. Thus, fire fighters will have to cycle in and out more quickly than usual to maintain the trapped fire fighter's air supply.
To address this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,077 entitled “Replenishable Self Contained Breathing Apparatus” which issued on Dec. 22, 1987 to Lambert and U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,088 entitled “Breathing Apparatus” which issued on Apr. 14, 1998 to Townsend disclose methods of attaching a high pressure conduit line between two tanks to equalize pressure therebetween. However, the methods described in both Lambert and Townsend suffer drawbacks due to the need to provide compatible systems for use.
Often, particularly in metropolitan areas comprising a plurality of separate municipalities, each of those urban communities may have completely separate fire departments. For example, in the Phoenix metropolitan area, there are nineteen separate fire fighting agencies. However, in cooperative mutual aid or automatic aid arrangements, often such separate fire departments assist one another in fire fighting events.
However, each of the several fire departments will not coordinate their respective purchases to make certain that equipment from one department will function with those of another. Thus, the air tank fittings and the SCBA quick fill connection from one community may not connect to the air tank fitting from another community. Since large fires may result in the response of fire resources from more than one fire department, this incompatability may have tragic consequences in the trapped fire fighter scenario described herein.
None of the known prior art disclose the combination set forth herein.